With increasingly frequent wildfires creating chaos in the US and Canada comes the need for communities to rebuild. A look into that process and what it means for the people and natural environment affected.
andrea bennett
As you pass the trailhead of the Pacific Crest Trail on the western edge of Cascade Locks, Oregon—the terminus point of Cheryl Strayed’s hike in Wild—the path curves upwards. It curves away from the river, away from the highway, and into a stand of second-growth Douglas fir trees. I’m on a guided hike with Roberta […] More »
Even in death, North Americans tend to leave a stomping carbon footprint. But there’s a better way.
Zakiya Kassam
With around 269,000 deaths reported each year in Canada, the death biz is more invested in our mortality than ever. But this billion-dollar industry needs us more than we need it: big-ticket items and services, such as embalming, caskets and tombstones, are as superfluous as they are environmentally damaging. Green burials came to North America […] More »
The world we'll leave behind won't be a pretty one
Michael Polanyi
DEAR FUTURE GREAT-GRANDCHILD, I will likely never meet you. I will never know the mid-21st-century world in which you will live. I hope you will be blessed with the opportunities and joys that I have experienced: the magic of visiting a pristine lake, the friendliness and generosity of neighbours, an array of vocational opportunities, and […] More »
Bears, chickens, fish, and more are slowly disappearing from our country's wildlife
Allison Baker
In October 2017, WWF-Canada released its “Living Planet Report,” assessing the country’s endangered and threatened species. Their findings paint a bleak picture of Canada’s wildlife: Between 1970 and 2014, half of the 903 monitored species had declined in population—a loss of approximately 83 percent on average. Habitat destruction, climate change, and human activity are the […] More »
Canadian universities are investing in oil giants, and students are putting up a fight. Inside the battle for divestment on campuses across the country
On a February morning in 2017, Tina Oh and more than 50 students are waiting impatiently in Mawita’mkw, a small gathering space for Indigenous students and community members at Mount Allison University in Sackville, N.B. Anxious chatter fills the room until suddenly, it’s silent. “It’s time,” Oh tells them, and the students, dressed entirely in […] More »
Sixteen of the animals were successfully reintroduced at Banff National Park earlier this year
Kyle Edwards
There was a time when close to 30 million bison roamed the plains of what is now Canada and the United States. In the mid-1800s, after the influx of European settlers, the animal—once the most abundant large mammal on the continent—was hunted to near extinction. But the bison has returned to Canada’s oldest national park. […] More »
A woman in a coral windbreaker peeks through cattails on the periphery of a marsh, her rubber boots camouflaged by vegetation and mud as she strains, clipboard in hand, to detect signs of amphibian life. A frog hops into a beam of sunlight through the dense flora and she marks a tick on her clipboard. […] More »
Public officials say sites along Montreal's Lachine Canal are safe for residents to live on—but pollution remains a problem
Patrick Maynard
The Lachine Canal is emblematic of Montreal’s revival. Tourists write about it. Modern condos sprout up next to it. A bike path running along the waterway is rated among the world’s best rides. But alongside the canal’s booming recreational offerings are the remnants of its industrial history. A review of a national database of federal industrial […] More »
This year, Canada celebrates its 150th birthday. Ours is a country of rich history—but not all Canadian stories are told equally. In this special report, This tackles 13 issues—one per province and territory—that have yet to be addressed and resolved by our country in a century and a half Along a winding trail on both sides of […] More »
This year, Canada celebrates its 150th birthday. Ours is a country of rich history—but not all Canadian stories are told equally. In this special report, This tackles 13 issues—one per province and territory—that have yet to be addressed and resolved by our country in a century and a half Canada’s oil sands have long been a lightning rod […] More »
Ken Boon lives on a “little piece of heaven,” lost to the world in British Columbia’s Peace River bottomlands. His wife, Arlene, grew up in Fort St. John on a homestead her grandfather purchased in the 1940s. The property, where the pair farm grains and run an 18-acre market garden, overlooks Cache Creek, a tributary of […] More »